George Raft

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Actor:

The Man with Bogart's Face (1980)

Hammersmith Is Out (1972)

"The Chicago Teddy Bears" (1 episode, 1971)

Skidoo (1968)

Five Golden Dragons (1967)

Du rififi à Paname (1966)

"The Eamonn Andrews Show" (1 episode, 1966)

For Those Who Think Young (1964) (uncredited)

Two Guys Abroad (1962)

Red Skelton Timex Special (1960) (TV)

Ocean's Eleven (1960)

"The Red Skelton Show" (4 episodes, 1955-1960)

Jet Over the Atlantic (1959)

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)

A Bullet for Joey (1955)

Black Widow (1954)

Rogue Cop (1954)

Dramma nella Kasbah (1953)

"I'm the Law" (25 episodes, 1953)

Escape Route (1952)

Loan Shark (1952)

I'll Get You for This (1951)

A Dangerous Profession (1949)

Red Light (1949)

Johnny Allegro (1949)

Outpost in Morocco (1949)

Race Street (1948)

Intrigue (1947)

Christmas Eve (1947)

Nocturne (1946)

Mr. Ace (1946)

Whistle Stop (1946)

Johnny Angel (1945)

Nob Hill (1945)

Follow the Boys (1944)

Background to Danger (1943)

Manpower (1941)

They Drive by Night (1940)

The House Across the Bay (1940)

Invisible Stripes (1939)

I Stole a Million (1939)

Each Dawn I Die (1939)

The Lady's from Kentucky (1939)

Spawn of the North (1938)

You and Me (1938)

Souls at Sea (1937)

Yours for the Asking (1936)

It Had to Happen (1936)

She Couldn't Take It (1935)

Every Night at Eight (1935)

The Glass Key (1935)

Stolen Harmony (1935)

Rumba (1935)

Limehouse Blues (1934)

The Trumpet Blows (1934)

Bolero (1934)

All of Me (1934)

The Bowery (1933)

Midnight Club (1933)

Pick-up (1933)

Under-Cover Man (1932)

If I Had a Million (1932)

Night After Night (1932)

Madame Racketeer (1932)

Love Is a Racket (1932) (scenes deleted)

Night World (1932)

Scarface (1932)

Dancers in the Dark (1932)

Taxi! (1932) (uncredited)

Palmy Days (1931)

Hush Money (1931)

Goldie (1931) (uncredited)

Quick Millions (1931)

Side Street (1929) (uncredited)

Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929) (uncredited)

Queen of the Night Clubs (1929)

As Himself:

"The Hollywood Greats" (1 episode, 1979)

Sextette (1978)

Today (1 episode, 1974)

The American Film Institute Salute to James Cagney (1974) (TV)

Deadhead Miles (1972)

Tribute to Bogart (1972) (TV)

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (2 episodes, 1970-1971)

"The Movie Game" (1 episode, 1970)

"The David Frost Show" (1 episode, 1969)

The Great Sex War (1969)

"The Joey Bishop Show" (1 episode, 1968)

Silent Treatment (1968)

Casino Royale (1967)

"Batman" (1 episode, 1967)

"Hippodrome Show" (1 episode, 1966)

"The New London Palladium Show" (1 episode, 1965)

The Patsy (1964)

The Ed Sullivan Show (2 episodes, 1957-1964)

"Hollywood and the Stars" (1 episode, 1963)

"Here's Hollywood" (1 episode, 1961)

The Ladies Man (1961)

"About Faces" (1 episode, 1960)

"The Arthur Murray Party" (1 episode, 1959)

"The Gisele MacKenzie Show" (1 episode, 1957)

"The Jimmy Durante Show" (3 episodes, 1955-1956)

"The Colgate Comedy Hour" (5 episodes, 1951-1955)

"The Name's the Same" (2 episodes, 1953-1955)

"I've Got a Secret" (1 episode, 1953)

"What's My Line?" (1 episode, 1953)

Nous irons à Paris (1950)

Screen Snapshots: Vacation at Del Mar (1949)

Hollywood Park (1946)

Stage Door Canteen (1943)

Broadway (1942)

Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 2 (1941) (uncredited)

Meet the Stars #6: Stars at Play (1941)

Breakdowns of 1941 (1941) (uncredited)

Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 4 (1938)

The Fashion Side of Hollywood (1935)

Hollywood on Parade No. B-5 (1933)

Hollywood on Parade No. B-1 (1933)

Hollywood on Parade No. A-9 (1933) (uncredited)

Walk of Fame

Star on the Walk of Fame Motion Picture At 6150 Hollywood Blvd. Television At 1500 Vine Street.

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George Raft was a boxer and a dancer with a few gangster friends, and made a redible hood in Scarface (1932), where he perfected that coin-tossing trick. He grew up poor in New York's "Hell's Kitchen" neighborhood, and his association with mobsters added credibility to the villains, convicts, and private eyes he frequently played. such were his criminal connections that he was prohibited from entering the United Kingdom in 1966, and is said to have used his influence to stop a Mafia plan to murder the then president of the Screen Actors Guild, James Cagney. If he now seems foolish for turning down The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Double Indemnity (1944), consider that he was big enough to be offered the roles Humphrey Bogart and Fred MacMurray made their own. He played himself in Broadway (1942) and lived to see the sharper-faced Ray Danton star in The George Raft Story (1961) - he sold the rights to his life story because he had financial problems.

Raft appears, often as a second lead, in some excellent Warner Brothers crime films, such as The glass Key (1935) and Johnny Allegro (1949). But he was rarely more than a sleek, dead-eyed presence, unhappy playing hoods but unconvincing as a straight-arrow hero in the likes of Background to Danger (1943) or Nocturne (1946). the caliber and box-office success of these films were not consistent with the celebrity status Raft enjoyed in Hollywood, alongside the likes of Cagney and Edward G. Robinson. He spoofs his old movies as Spats Colombo in Some Like It Hot (1959), snatching a tossed coin from a minion and snarling, "Where did you get that cheap trick?" After that, he was in hits such as Ocean's Eleven (1960) and Casino Royale (1967) as characters hurried offscreen before audiences put a name to the face.

"Part of it went on gambling, and part of it went on women. The rest I spent foolishly."

Interred at Forest Lawn (Hollywood Hills), Los Angeles, California, USA, in the Court of Remembrance.

He turned down High Sierra (1941), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Casablanca (1942) and Double Indemnity (1944).

Was a close friend of notorious gangster Benjamin Bugsy Siegel since their childhood in New York. Siegel actually lived at Raft's home in Hollywood for a time while trying to make inroads for organized crime within the movie colony.

As a teenager, he was a bat-boy for the New York Highlanders (Yankees), tried out for semi-pro baseball, boxed at the Polo Athletic Club and hustled pool.

Salary

Manpower (1941) $60,000